Creature Feature
by TinySprite
Summary: A fourth prompt table for Sigma 6! This one is set in my Coffee Fiend AU though, so you've been warned. Again, each chapter is a one-shot unless otherwise stated.
1. First Kiss

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

"Hey, what was your first kiss like?"

Spirit looked up from his book at the odd question, staring at his teammate, "What?"

Tunnel Rat was sprawled out on the small rec room's only couch, head tilted backwards so he could look back at Spirit, "You heard me. I asked what your first kiss was like."

The tracker raised an eyebrow, "Why do you want to know?"

The shape-shifter shrugged his shoulders, "We're supposed to get to know each other right? Seems as good a place as any to start."

Spirit considered that. Besides the basic stuff, such as which military branch they'd served in before joining the team or a little about their home town, none of them really knew that much about the others. Well, Scarlett and Snake Eyes were the exception to that but they were the exception to a lot of things.

He looked back at his reclined companion, "If I tell you about mine, you'll tell me about yours, right?"

"Right!"

Spirit sighed and put the note card he used as a book marker into his book to save his place, "My first kiss was when I was twelve. It was with a girl I'd had a crush on all summer, only later I found out that she'd only kissed me to make the boy she _actually _liked jealous. There, now it's your turn."

Tunnel Rat let out an amused snort, "Not much better than yours. I was a freshman in high school when it happened. Not even two days into the school year, this girl just comes up out of the blue during lunch, grabbed my face and kissed me. All on a dare from her friends too. It wasn't so bad though, cause she dated me for like a week afterwards."

Spirit hid another sigh, "Is this all or did you want to talk about something else?"

Tunnel Rat shrugged again from his position, "Yeah, this conversation kinda dead-ended itself. Anything you want to talk about?"

The tracker almost shook his head but stopped himself and said, "Yes actually. It's been bothering me for a while, but what happens to your clothes when you shape shift?"

The redhead rolled over to look at him better, "Eh?"

Spirit clarified, "Well, I've seen them get torn when you do a sudden shift but sometimes they seem fine. Why is that?"

Tunnel Rat smirked, "Because those other times I find a hiding spot and strip down or I go really small first, like a mouse or something, to slip out of them, then I shift to whatever form I really need. Course I usually end up needing a hiding spot anyway to get dressed again."

Spirit blinked, "Oh."

Well, that was something he wasn't certain he wanted to know. His teammate suddenly got off the couch, grabbing onto the arm rest to flip himself off of it, "Well, nice chat but I'm hungry. See ya later Nature Boy."

Tunnel Rat put his hands behind his head and left the rec room. Spirit blinked again, then shrugged and returned to his book.


	2. Final

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Duke sighed and stretched his back, wincing as his spine popped in a few places. Glancing back at his overcrowded desk, he winced at the amount of paper work left to do.

At least he'd already made a great dent in it since that morning and he was about to finish the final paper in a lengthy documentation report. Once he signed off on it, he could go and have a quick break to get a fresh cup of coffee.

Picking his pen back up, he read through the paper and found where he needed to sign. Doing so, he turned in his chair to put the finished paper with the rest and his elbow caught his half full coffee cup. It spilled forward, splashing several sheets of finished work and even getting a few of the unfinished ones.

Swearing, Duke leapt out of his chair and tried to keep the mess from spreading. By the time he had it under control, he could already see that he'd need to redo almost all of the last hour's worth of work. Making a note to check his office for any little curses, Duke grabbed his coffee cup and stormed out of his office in a sour mood.

Just a quick refill, then back to his desk after putting in the requests for new forms to replace the ruined ones. At the rate he was going, Duke was almost wishing for a new artifact to show up, just to free him from the horrors of paperwork.


	3. Numb

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Laying on the ground, Hi-Tech cursed himself mentally for his stupidity.

They'd known that there was a magical artifact here somewhere in this old toy shop! Yet when he'd seen the bin full of marbles, he'd reached into it with his bare hand to pick a few up. So _of course_, by the laws of universal irony, that meant he'd grabbed the artifact as well.

The effects had happened almost instantly too. A strange numb sensation hit his body and his legs just gave out under him. It'd been pure luck that Hi-Tech hadn't hit his head on anything during his fall. At least he had the artifact now, the only bit of good luck in this situation.

When he'd fallen, the marbles had dropped from his hand except for one. It actually seemed to be stuck to his skin somehow, clinging to his palm like a burr. He couldn't see which one it was though, but he'd soon find out, once his teammates got him free from it.

Even as he thought that, Long Range appeared at his side with the containment box, "Hi-Tech! Can you hear me?"

The blond could only give him a slow blink of confirmation as his throat didn't seem to want to work. Range took that as an affirmative, reaching over with his gloved hands to check Hi-Tech's own. When he found the stuck marble, Long Range held the other man's wrist in one hand and used his other to bring the containment box over.

Opening it, he then held Hi-Tech's hand over the box and carefully pulled the marble free. As soon as it was off his skin, Hi-Tech found he could move again. He groaned and slowly sat up, glancing at the marble that Long Range held up to show him before dropping it into the containment box.

It was an average sized marble of a pure, dark green color and seemed to be made of glass. Hi-Tech shook his head, mumbling, "Hard to believe that was an assassination tool."

Long Range closed the box, shrugging before he stood up, "Hey, you experienced it's effects. It's purpose was to make a job easy by making it so the target couldn't fight back. Are you feeling alright?"

He held a hand out to help the other man stand. Hi-Tech gave him a nod and accepted his teammate's help to stand up, "Yeah, just a few bruises and my pride."

Range held the box in one hand and used the other to pat his teammate's shoulder, "Hey, it could have been worse."

Tech just grumbled and followed Long Range out of the store. This mission could have gone better but at least only his pride had been really hurt.


	4. Broken Wings

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Scarlett felt her temper spiking but forced herself to stay calm, "I'm sorry, please say that again?"

The tiny creature sitting on the branch before her huffed and squeaked again in a rapid fire explanation. The red-haired woman reminded herself to be patient and ask yet again, "I'm sorry, you're speaking too fast. Please slow down and explain it one more time. I caught something about a dog?"

The pixie snorted and finally spoke slowly enough for Scarlett to understand, "I said, stupid human, that I want that dog punished! He ruined my home and he -"

She began speaking rapidly again, loosing Scarlett once more. The human woman sighed and refrained from pinching the bridge of her nose.

As the pixie seemed to be saying, a dog had come tearing through the part of the forest where her home was and had wrecked it in the process trying to dig her out. What Scarlett really needed to know was if there had been an owner nearby, as pixie hunting was illegal.

But the tiny creature had focused on how she'd been wronged and was now homeless, with demands to have the dog punished tossed in throughout her tirade. That was what Scarlett could understand of it, at least.

Casting her eyes over the pixie one more time, Scarlett took a mental inventory. So far, it seemed the pixie had only suffered a few scrapes and bruises in addition to the trauma of the dog attack. The main thing was that the wings were okay, as broken wings could mean the death of a pixie.

If they couldn't fly, they couldn't get food, find shelter or escape danger. It was also a sign that the dog had been trained to hunt pixies if it'd gone specifically for her wings. Sighing mentally, Scarlett interrupted the squeaky female and spoke, "Let me get some paperwork started and we can file this incident properly. In the meantime, is there anywhere you could stay at?"

The tiny female reddened a little and said, "There is! I can go to my suitor's place! Do you need to know his location?"

Seeing the sharply suspicious look, Scarlett shook her head, "No, we just need to know where we can contact you for further information. Now, are you sure there wasn't a human around at the time the dog attacked your home?"

The pixie waved a hand dismissively, still suspicious, "Through the local office will be fine then. I like their secretary."

At the question though, she puffed up her cheeks and fell into another high-pitched tirade that was much too fast for human ears to follow. Scarlett felt a headache coming on and reminded herself that this was part of her job, no matter how many times she got pushed in circles.


	5. Melody

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Kamakura knew he was pouting and didn't care to stop it.

This was beyond humiliating!

But Snake Eyes snapped his fingers at him and pointed at an unsuspecting Heavy Duty. The young apprentice let his shoulders sag but dutifully began making his way over to their teammate as quietly as possible.

As he came within mere feet of the other man and was still unnoticed, Kamakura felt his pride start to recover a little. He crept a little closer and...a chirpy melody began to ring out from his arm. Specifically, the arm band that Snake Eyes had made him wear.

Frantic, Kamakura dove for cover but it was too late. Now alerted to his presence, Heavy Duty found him easily by following the music. Thankfully the man didn't taunt him but instead gave the apprentice a friendly smile, "Stealth training?"

The young vampire let his shoulders slump and nodded in defeat, "Yeah..."

Snake Eyes appeared next to them, shaking his head. He motioned for Kamakura to hold out his arm, which the younger did after standing up. Poking the arm band in a few places, Snake Eyes poked it in a few places to stop the music.

He motioned then for Kamakura to follow him. Heavy Duty watched them leave, shaking his head. No one besides the ninja knew exactly how that arm band worked, except that it had a very specific set of conditions that had to be fulfilled at all times, lest it let out that music.

But until Kamakura mastered it, they were all subject to the sound. At least the tune was a nice one.


	6. Rules

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Duke sighed as he put up the list next to the main rec room's bulletin board. Taking a step back from it, he ensured it was posted properly and checked over the new rules again.

Rec Room Rules

Rule 1: No taunting the team vampires. They don't report it, they get even.

Rule 2: No throwing of anything considered 'hazardous'/'insulting' to certain teammates. Ex: 'Holy Garlic' water balloons, dog treats/toys, cat toys, etc.

Rule 3: Tunnel Rat is NOT the team pet. Insinuate so at your own risk.

Rule 4: No placing curses on fellow teammates, even if they have been annoying.

Rule 5: There is no such thing as a 'Ninja-Free' zone. Claiming such just encourages them.

Rule 6: Clean up after yourselves and this means ALL messes. Food, magic, training, pranks, ALL of them.

He stopped there and sighed, rubbing at his forehead as he left the room to go back to his office.

Duke knew that the next time he went in there, the list would have 'corrections' made to it and even additional rules added on.

That was fine. He'd made extras for just that reason.


	7. Chocolate

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Scarlett had just sat down for a snack when Jinx stormed into the small kitchen.

Scarlett took one look at her fellow teammate, taking in the fact that Jinx was still in her undercover disguise and the look of near-murder on her face, and looked back down at the cake on the table. Quickly cutting herself a small slice, she slid the rest of it towards the closest free chair, "That bad huh?"

Jinx grabbed a fork and a spoon from the cutlery drawer before she sat down and began to dig into the rest of the cake in a business-like manner. It was a few mouthfuls before she spoke, slightly calmer, "I just can't believe what those idiots believe about vampires!"

Scarlett took a bite from her own small slice of cake, "Well, the media of today doesn't exactly paint you guys in a positive light."

Jinx distractedly waved one hand, mindful of the fork it held, "That, I could deal with. If I had to play some mysterious, powerful and beautiful queen of the night, I could handle it no problem. It's this stupid thrill-seeker crap I can't stand."

"Thrill-seeker?"

The female vampire paused in her devouring of the cake and explained, "Somehow a lot of these idiots are getting it into their heads that vampires are thrill-seekers because of our immortality slash long life thing. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I had to talk those brats out of tonight! Are we certain they're a threat? Because at the rate they're going, Darwin's theory is going to be well proven!"

Scarlett sighed, "Well, Hi-Tech's sources pointed to that group dabbling in dark magic. So just hang in there until we get proof that says otherwise or evidence that they're actually doing it."

Jinx growled and dug back into cake, having power ate her way through almost half of the double layer chocolate dessert by then. The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow but said nothing. A vampire's appetite was nothing to sneeze at, especially when their emotions were riled up.

Well, they had to do a supply run tomorrow anyway. Scarlett made a mental note to pick up a new cake then, plus an extra one for Jinx herself. At the rate this mission was going, her friend would need a mini-fridge full of sweets to soothe her nerves.


	8. Nostalgia

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Spirit looked up from his new book, finding the plot too predictable to keep his attention for long.

Once again in the small rec room of the base, his gaze landed on his teammate Tunnel Rat, who was yet again sprawled out on the room's only couch. Emboldened by both boredom and curiosity, Spirit called out to him, "Hey, Tunnel Rat?"

There was a groan for a reply, but it meant he had the other's attention. Spirit asked, "When did your powers come in?"

There was a pause, then Tunnel Rat slowly rolled himself over to lay on his stomach, looking at Spirit with slitted eyes, "Why do you wanna know?"

Spirit shrugged, "I'm curious."

What he actually meant when he asked the question was what happened when Tunnel Rat's powers came in. Everyone knew that shape-shifters tended to acquire their powers around puberty if they didn't have them since birth. In either case, there was normally an event that triggered the activation of their powers.

There was a long silence before Rat finally said, "Basic."

The shaman blinked, not certain he'd heard right, "What?"

Tunnel Rat snorted, "You heard me, Basic."

Spirit blinked again, "Wait, you're saying your powers activated during Basic Training? How?"

Rat snorted again, scratching the back of his neck, "I was a late bloomer I guess. All I knew was that a buddy of mine got hurt pretty bad during a training exercise, I was freaking out and next thing our drill sergeant knows, he's getting tackled by a red-furred dog and dragged into the woods."

The redhead pulled himself up into a sitting position, slumped back against the cushions as he eyed Spirit, "Even then though, they didn't really realize it was me until they found my uniform in the woods and someone noticed the 'weird dog' was reacting to my name, plus what my buddy was able to tell them after he regained consciousness. Apparently he saw me start to shift before he blacked out. It all went crazy after that."

Something about the way he said that last sentence told Spirit that 'crazy' was a light term to use. Trying to think of something else to talk about, he asked, "How did your buddy get hurt?"

Tunnel Rat laughed bitterly, "He stepped on a bear trap. Thing was pretty old too but it's spring was still good, unfortunately for us."

The smaller man sighed and added, with a touch of nostalgia to his voice, "Besides all the bad stuff, it was kinda...freeing I guess. Finding out I was a shape-shifter answered some questions I had and explained a few things, like why animals seem to hate me with a passion."

Looking back at Spirit, Tunnel Rat asked, "So, what about you?"

Spirit shrugged, "There's not much to say. I come from a line of shamans, so my grandfather had been training me since I could walk. We didn't find out about my other abilities until I was older."

There was an awkward silence between them, which Tunnel Rat broke, "So, any luck I could ask you to get Billy to stop with the pecking?"

Spirit gave his teammate a weak smile, "Sorry. I've talked with him about it but I think he likes your reactions too much to stop."

Tunnel Rat pushed himself off the couch, grumbling something that sounded like 'see how he likes a cougar then'. Without saying anything else to the shaman, Rat left the rec room. Spirit himself only stayed there for a few extra minutes before getting up to leave as well.

That hadn't gone like how he'd thought it would.


	9. Heartbeat

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Scarlett hated being paralyzed.

It wasn't just that it stuck her limbs in place and held her completely still until she was released. It was also the fact that her insides were also slowed as the magic seeped into her body. Each breath was drawn out, her blood felt like mud and each heartbeat seemed to echo throughout her body like a slow drum beat.

Thankfully it was over in just a minute, though it felt like five to her. After the curse paper was removed from her arm, she fell to the training mats with an 'Umph!'. Scarlett was content to just lay there for a minute, trying to regain her breath and wincing at the forming headache she now had. A hand came into her view, with a posh voice telling her, "Tiring, isn't it?"

She groaned and accepted the hand up, still feeling the effects of the paralyzing, "Among other things. But that's the reason we have this class, isn't it?"

There was a light laugh, "Too true Scarlett. Here we are, now take it easy for a few minutes."

The redhead woman let her new teammate escort her to a chair set along the training room wall and she gratefully sat down on it. After making sure she was alright, Lt. Stone returned to the center of the room where the rest of the team was waiting. He held up a new strip of the paralysis curse in one gloved hand and grinned at the others, "So, do we have another volunteer or shall I pick from the roster?"

It took a while but finally Long Range stepped forward to have his turn at it. Scarlett watched the proceedings with interest as she recovered. This class wasn't much different from the taser class they all had to take as well.

The goal here was to go through a minute of magically-induced paralysis, to give them an idea of what it felt like so as to make them more prudent in the use of the curse strips. Next week was the blind curse, which no one was looking forward to.

Letting out a soft sigh, she sat back and watched Lt. Stone carefully. He and his apprentice Firefly had been assigned to their group practically out of the blue, which made many of them suspicious. But so far, neither had really given them reason to worry and Duke himself had vouched for Stone.

Still, Scarlett would be watching both of the newcomers until she was certain they checked out.


	10. Stranger

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

This was written at the request of Shiary on .

(-)

Hi-Tech heard the door to his lab open and looked up from his current busy work project, an attempt to make a better shielding against spells for his machines, to see that Duke had walked in with Lt. Stone in tow. Likely they were there to see how the program upgrades for the Dragonhawk were coming along, which Hi-Tech had finished an hour ago.

Since he didn't have much else to do and was curious about it, he asked, "Hey Duke, so how did you and Stone meet anyway?"

Duke looked at him, "I told you didn't I? Stone and I met during Ops training."

Hi-Tech nodded as he put aside his work and stood up, "Well, yeah, I know that. I meant 'how' you met, not when."

Stone smirked, "Ah, you mean how did it go when Duke and I first met each other?"

To Hi-Tech's surprise, Duke grimaced a little, "It's not that special. Stone was my senior there and he showed me around the place until I got used to everything."

The spy chuckled, "Now Duke, don't be so modest."

Turning to Hi-Tech, Lt. Stone said, "What he doesn't want you to know is that he was so nervous during his first couple of days that he kept making rookie mistakes. In fact, the first time I actually met Duke, it was on the shooting range. He-"

Duke cut in, "I think that's enough reminiscing for now. Hi-Tech, how are those upgrades doing?"

At the very clear cue to change topics, Hi-Tech went to one of his lab's many computers to bring up the programs and walk the other two through them. Once they were both satisfied and a time slot was set for the upgrades to be put into the Dragonhawk, the other two men made to leave but Stone hung back at the door.

He gave Hi-Tech a grin, "If you want to hear the rest of that story or have any other questions for me, please feel free to ask. We'll be working together on the same team now, so it won't do for either of us to be a stranger to the other. Till then!"

With that said, he left.

Hi-Tech stared at the door in contemplation for a few minutes, then shrugged and returned to his project. He'd take Stone up on that offer later, especially now since he was really curious about what had happened on the shooting range back then.


	11. Confusion

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot and the OC are mine.

(-)

Long Range was in the driver's cab of the RHINO, enjoying some downtime with a book when he heard a strange noise.

Looking around, he saw nothing but knew that could be deceptive. After a few minutes of silence, he returned to his book, only to hear the sound again.

Raising his head again in confusion, he once more looked around but still saw nothing. This time though, he put his book aside and got out of his chair to better examine the cab.

Waiting to hear the sound again, he was rewarded by hearing it coming from a back corner of the cab, under the leg space of one of the stations. Turning on the mini-flashlight on his gauntlet, Long Range crouched down and looked for the source of the sound.

What he found was a tiny ball of blue fluff, not much bigger than a golf ball, rolling around the floor of the leg space. When the light shone on it, it seemingly turned to face him and let out that sound again, a sad little 'meep'.

The sniper groaned and quickly looked around the cab for more. That little fluff ball was a kind of creature called a dice, though most of the magical community knew them by their nickname of 'Tribble'.

Attracted to loose magic, dice would and could multiply rapidly and were a terror to get rid of.

After searching the rest of the cab thoroughly, Long Range was satisfied that there were no other dice to be found. But that was odd. Dice were pack animals and were generally found in groups of four or more, not alone by themselves.

Going back to where he'd found the creature, Long Range reached out to pick it up. It didn't run from him, but it did tremble in the palm of his hand as he held it up for inspection. Feeling sorry for it, he gently petted it with two fingers while looking it over.

It did seem smaller than normal for a dice, so perhaps this one was a runt that had gotten separated from its pack. Moving to sit back in his seat, Long Range used his free hand to open a dash panel and pulled out an old good luck charm paper. He had a new one already so losing this one wouldn't hurt.

Offering the paper to the dice, it squeaked happily and somehow tugged it out of his hand. The faded ink on the paper lightened further and soon vanished as the dice absorbed the magic from the charm, purring happily the whole time.

Smiling, Long Range set his new friend down on the arm rest and picked his book back up. It'd be safe to keep just one, as dice needed a partner to multiply. He'd have think of a name for it later, though Fuzzball was first and foremost in his mind.


	12. Bitter

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Heavy Duty had been minding his own business, doing some maintenance on his laser cannon, when there was a sudden noise to his side. Looking up, he saw Kamakura slouched at the table, glaring at the opposite wall.

Raising an eyebrow, he first ensured he was at a safe stopping point before looking back up and asking, "What's the matter?"

The young apprentice snorted, his voice bitter as he said, "Just another reminder that I'm not human anymore."

Heavy Duty frowned, "What happened?"

Kamakura shook his head, but the other didn't give up, "Listen Kamakura, either you tell me or you sit there and stew until something bad happens because of it. Now which is it going to be?"

The vampire sighed, moving one hand to idly scratch at the table top, "The tv's on in the main rec room and it's showing a baseball game."

Heavy waited patiently for the rest, looking down occasionally to finish the work on his weapon. Soon enough, Kamakura added, "Well, I watched it for a bit and I wanted to play but before I could ask anyone else if they wanted to do a pick-up game, I remembered that I couldn't. I mean, there's the sun thing for one and I keep forgetting about the strength difference."

Heavy Duty winced in sympathy, "How about this then? Let me finish this, then we'll go find a ball, some gloves and a bat and round up a few of the other guys for a game."

Kamakura sat up, mouth opening to protest but Heavy cut him off, "First, remember who you're talking to. I've been having to mind my own strength since I hit puberty and if there's one thing I absolutely know, it's that you don't improve at something without practice. As for the sun, it's still overcast, isn't it? Just slap on some of that extra strength sunblock and you should be alright."

The vampire hesitated but gave in, "Thanks Heavy."

The man shrugged a shoulder as he finished up the maintenance work and closed up the laser cannon, "Don't mention it. Now, let me put this up and we'll go play some baseball."

Heavy Duty stood up, bringing the laser cannon up with him and he motioned for Kamakura to follow him. The apprentice got up from the table to do so, a bright smile on his face as they left to make the arrangements for the game.


	13. Afterlife

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

As a whole, the team hated dealing with items that had a direct connection to the afterlife and with good reason.

Those items tended to be the most unstable and therefore the hardest to safely contain, especially the belief-made ones.

Unfortunately, today's case was one of those thrice-cursed belief-made items.

Wearing two pairs of spelled gloves and using a set of tongs, Duke held the ring as far away from himself as he could, trying to keep his emotions under control while Snake Eyes approached him carefully with a containment box on an extended pole.

The ring was laughable in design: a clunky, fake silver skull with red glass for eyes and some black glass in the open mouth to highlight its sharp teeth.

Its story was even more laughable. The man that had originally owned it had gone around claiming that it housed his own personal demon, one that would either eat the souls of his enemies or drag them to the underworld, all at his command. It arguably would have been alright, but the idiot had gone around claiming that he'd sacrificed people to the ring demon and that now their souls were increasing said demon's power.

Somehow people started believing him and after that, it wasn't long before the ring actually gained a belief-made demon inside. One that was horribly hungry.

The containment box was finally in reach. Duke quickly dropped the ring inside and Snake Eyes practically broke a record sealing it shut, slapping on extra protection seals to make sure the box stayed shut.

Both men released the breaths they'd been holding until that point. There was a special place in the Vault for this box, one that would be even more heavily sealed and ensure the item was secured.

Duke motioned for the both of them to leave the building. Snake Eyes held onto the box as he melted away into the shadows, headed right for the portable Vault in the ROCC to put it away. The team leader sighed as shouting came to his ears once he exited the building.

Now to deal with the ring's owner, who'd been alive at an expense that sickened the team when they'd learned about it. Remembering what they'd found in one of the back rooms, Duke hardened himself and went to deal with the problem.

Some days, this job just wasn't worth it.


	14. Daybreak

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Scarlett liked watching sunrises.

Sitting on the roof of their base, she sipped from her thermos of coffee as she watched the distant daybreak spreading on the horizon.

There was a gentle touch on her shoulder, making her turn around to see Snake Eyes sitting down next to her. She gave him a warm smile and rested her head on his shoulder.

Snake Eyes' full body suit would give him extra protection from the rising sun, plus he was quick enough to slip away once it got too bright. Just the fact that he was here with her, risking all that discomfort and pain, meant a lot to Scarlett.

Offering him a sip from her thermos, Snake politely turned her down by holding up his own. He put his free arm around her shoulders, leaning slightly against her as she rested against him.

Scarlett liked watching sunrises, but it was even better when someone was there to watch them with her.


	15. Audience

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Duke took a calming breath and slowly released it before he raised his gaze to focus on the very nervous looking greenshirts. Making himself speak calmly, he asked, "So, who's idea was it?"

The small group immediately started talking over each other and some even pointed at other people, trying to lay blame where it supposedly deserved. Duke growled, "Quiet!"

They shut up. He pointed to one particularly nervous looking one, "You. I don't even care anymore who started it, I just want to know why you all thought it was a good idea to hijack the base's speaker system."

The greenshirt shifted in place, biting at his lip as he tried to explain without actually implicating anyone, "Sir, you see, we were just having a bit of fun with a guitar and well, we thought that it'd be even more fun with an audience but we wanted to practice first and we wanted to hear what we sounded like. So we uh...well, we tried to hook up some extra speakers to the sound system and ….uh..."

Duke frowned, "So you're saying that it was _unintentional_?"

There was a squeaked, "Yes."

Duke closed his eyes tightly, taking another calming breath before letting it out. A wonderfully evil idea came to his mind, "Go to bed, all of you."

A braver one asked, "S-sir?"

Duke opened his eyes and smiled at them, making several of the greenshirts sweat, "We're getting a new drill instructor tomorrow. I'm certain a few of you have heard of him before, but I won't spoil the surprise. Go to bed now and get some rest."

Rest that would be needed, especially after they'd woken up the _entire_ base with their little stunt. Between all the cross instructors and the KP work they were going to get saddled with, Duke almost felt bad for giving the group over to Beach Head.

'Almost' was the key word.


	16. Endless Sorrow

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Tunnel Rat pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're not kidding, are you?"

Hi-Tech shook his head, idly waving the info packet held in his right hand, "Unfortunately no, I'm not."

As one, they looked down at the faded and scuffed journal that lay on the table between them. The journal had belonged to a self-claimed 'spell master' and apparently he'd filled it with all his own spells and ritual instructions. All of which would need to be cataloged by Hi-Tech before the journal went into the Vault. Unfortunately it was locked but oddly, there was no actual lock, just a metal circle instead. The circle glimmered with the magic of a spell lock.

The shape-shifter grumbled, "And I'm here why again?"

Hi-Tech coughed, his face guilty as he said, "Well...you see, the guy had a favorite cat and um..."

Tunnel Rat gritted his teeth, "You want me to find the cat right? It's got the key on its collar or something?"

The blond looked guiltier, "The cat _is_ the key and uh..."

Tunnel Rat felt his eye twitch, "The cat's dead, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

The shape-shifter took a breath, "So, you want me to shift into it?"

Hi-Tech nodded, looking a little hopeful, "Yeah. Could you?"

Tunnel Rat told him outright, "No."

Tech blinked, "Why not?"

Rat explained, "Well for one, I bet that lock is spelled to that specific cat. Just because I go into its shape doesn't mean I _am_ the cat. My DNA will still arguably be mine, not the cat's. So, you're out of luck there."

Hi-Tech opened his mouth to say something else, but Tunnel Rat gave him a look that promised if not actual endless sorrow and pain, then the closest he could get to it before the week was through. The blond knew he was pushing it as it was and wisely decided not to go any further, "Well, do you know anything about it that might help me unlock it?"

Tunnel Rat thought on that, then said, "See if you can't get some of its fur. Putting that on the circle could trick it into opening."

Hi-Tech nodded, "I'll do that. Thank Tunnel Rat."

The redhead just shrugged and left the lab, mood clearly sour. Hi-Tech sighed and got to work.

One of these days, he'd have a conversation with his teammate without somehow irritating the guy.


	17. Fireworks

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Heavy Duty swore as a thick book connected with the side of his head, creating fireworks in his vision as he was temporarily incapacitated.

His opponent didn't let up, throwing a desperate punch at him which the larger man caught in one hand. Tightening his grip, Heavy Duty glared down at the trembling kid, "That was a very bad mistake."

He then grabbed the kid by the jaw with his other hand, to keep the boy from speaking. The team had gotten reports of someone practicing unlicensed magic in the area and sure enough, they'd found their target.

The teen had been kicked out of his apprenticeship for laziness but never turned in his books or shown up for reassignment. Instead, he'd tried to earn some quick money turning out charms for anyone interested.

The bad thing about that though was that he never finished the charms properly, which resulted in loose magic when someone else tried to use them. Thankfully only minor property damage had happened so far, which didn't get a high charge.

But then the kid had attacked Heavy Duty in an attempt to get away and that would get him a heavy charge. Grumbling to himself about idiot teens, Heavy spied Scarlett and called out to her, wanting to get this mission done with already.


	18. Wishing

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Snake Eyes hated wishing wells, or rather, wishing stones in this case.

Many people simply assumed that the wishing sites were harmless or only had enough magic to push a little good luck to the wisher's way.

That was wrong, so very wrong.

Wishing sites worked on a balance system. So if someone wished for say, a new car, then that meant a car was going to be lost somewhere. It could be the wisher's own current car or someone else's but either way, a price would be paid for that new car.

Frowning under his mask, he approached the large stone with sealing charms in hand. Its top was rubbed smooth from generation upon generation of people rubbing it for luck or to ensure their wish was heard. The naturally made rock 'bowl' before it was full of coins, bits of fruit and other random things. As for the rock itself, it was riddled with little holes, several of which Snake Eyes could see had bits of paper pushed inside.

It was the way the stone worked apparently. You wrote your wish on a scrap of paper and put it inside one of the holes. Then you rubbed the top of the stone and left something in the rock bowl to help ensure your wish would be granted. Some even said that if you checked the stone after a week had passed and your paper was gone, then that meant the wish was granted. If it was still there, you had to give another offering to please the spirit inside the stone.

Moving around behind it, Snake Eyes found a good spot and stuck the charms on, being careful to make sure they were in an area least likely to be disturbed. With this, the power of the stone would be safely sealed and locals could still use it without danger.

Nodding to himself once the job was done, Snake Eyes slipped away from the stone to head back to the team to report in.


	19. Happy Birthday to you

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Destro strode into the small room confidently, though inside he was nervous.

Standing in the middle of the hot, dimly lit room, he called out, "Anna? Are you awake?"

There was a soft rustling, then a whispered response, "James?"

Heaving an internal sigh of relief, he approached the large, circular bed set against the far wall, "How are you feeling today, my dear?"

There was further rustling and a soft sigh before Destro could make out a slim hand reaching for his face, "Much better, thankfully."

He closed the gap between them, sitting on the edge of the bed as he gently grasped her outstretched hand, "That is very good to hear. What would you like to eat?"

A low yawn came to his ears, "Not right now, but maybe in a few minutes."

There was another rustle and Destro felt her weight push against him as she snuggled against his side. The Baroness rested her head against his shoulder, some of her serpentine tail lazily shifting to lay across his legs as she murmured to him, "For now, this will do."

Destro let her relax against him, also enjoying this brief quiet moment they had. As a Nagini, the Baroness was affected by the seasons and as such was currently going through something like a hibernation due to the cold weather. Thankfully, as winter was ending, she'd be back to her normal self in a few weeks.

But work called and he unfortunately couldn't spare more than a few minutes right now. Taking her hand that he still held, Destro gave her the small box he'd brought in with him. He explained, "I'm sorry, but there are many projects that demand my attention right now. However, I wanted to at least wish a happy birthday to you, my dear Anna."

She moved away from him to turn on the bedside lamp, illuminating their section of the bed, "James, you remembered! Thank you."

"But of course, Anastasia. How could I forget?" he told her as he watched her open the little present. She smiled at the revealed gift and looked up to grant him that same smile, her yellow eyes softening with warmth, "James, it's beautiful."

She extracted the platinum and emerald bracelet from the box and slid it onto her right wrist, angling it in the light to admire it. Looking up at Destro again, she moved over to hug him, "Thank you James, I love it. Can I expect you to accompany me at dinner tonight as well?"

He returned the hug, "Of course, my love."

He'd have to do some schedule shuffling to make time for it, but it would be worth it.


	20. Tomorrow

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

If there was one unit of time that the whole team hated, then it was 'tomorrow'.

'Tomorrow' covered so much and was so unknown that in their line of work, 'tomorrow' could be the most dangerous thing of all.

So if they could get something done, they'd do it as soon as possible. Magic could be horribly tricky to work with and no one wanted to contemplate what consequences could result from a delay of even a couple hours, let alone a whole day.


	21. Oppression

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

(-)

Scarlett pushed some hair out of her face and studied the...building?

At first, she'd thought it'd just been an oddly shaped bunch of tall bushes and small trees but once her guide had pointed out the door and windows, she could clearly see that it was actually a small house. Situated as it was is the most overgrown and flower-filled clearing she'd ever seen, Scarlett had nearly missed it.

Putting out a hand to keep her guide next to her, she dug out the papers from her pack and looked them over before calling out, "Miss Shelly? Are you home?"

There were various rustling sounds before the 'door' of the home opened and a very unusual head poked out to look at her, "Just a minute please."

The head pulled back in and the door closed. Scarlett raised an eyebrow and looked at her guide, who shrugged nonchalantly, "She likes looking nice for people, ma'am. Just give her a minute to finish arranging her flowers."

Something about the way he smiled as he said the last part told her it was a long-standing joke, but Shelly actually stepped out of the house before Scarlett could ask about it. A plant nymph, Shelly certainly looked plant-like.

She was a few inches shorter than Scarlett, with a pretty, smooth face that held a slight nose, a small mouth and large, solid green eyes. Her skin was various shades of dark brown and medium green, with the brown mostly on her main body while her limbs were mainly green. Her hair wasn't really hair but actually several rose blooms of various colors, their stems connected to her scalp and hidden behind the bloomed flowers. Her dress looked like she'd taken several various sized leaves and arranged them into a dress.

Holding up a hand to ask them to wait, Shelly carried something from her home to a sunny spot in the yard. Spending a couple minutes carefully arranging it, she was finally satisfied and stepped back to look at Scarlett, "Who do I have the pleasure of addressing? If you'd like some flowers, my going rate is three flowers for an apple or a bouquet of twelve for a small bag of good quality fertilizer."

Scarlett shook her head, her left eye catching the slightest bit of movement that told her where Snake Eyes had hidden himself in the nearby trees. Focusing on the plant girl, she explained, "I'm not here to shop. I'm with the Sigma 6 group and I'm here on official business."

For some reason, that made Shelly frown and she stepped closer to Scarlett, "And what business would that be?"

Meeting her narrowed gaze calmly, Scarlett told her, "We got reports about the oppression of rare magical creatures in the area and I've been sent to investigate it."

To her surprise, Shelly threw her hands into the air and let out a sharp cry of anger, "Those blabbering _idiots_!"

To her further surprise, the guide shook his head, commenting, "We did try to warn you that they'd go that far, Miss Shelly."

Shelly gave him a pout before returning her gaze to Scarlett, "What exactly are the claims?"

The red-haired woman told her, "Well, the first one details your forced removal from your home to one of a, I quote, 'lesser grade and standard than your original home'."

The plant-like female shook her head, though carefully in mind of her flowers, "That's a lie! My original home was in the local town's park, which unfortunately got destroyed from all the flooding from those nasty storms we had last year. I would have _died_ if I stayed there! Tell her, Jason!"

The guide, Jason, nodded, "It's true, ma'am. Miss Shelly here got really sick from all the flood water and we threw together a shelter for her up here until the excess water went away."

Shelly took it up from there, moving her arms out wide to indicate the whole area, "But I found that I liked it better up here than down there in Bellton, so I asked the city council if I could move up here, since this is public property. They told me I could but I had to sign away my old home to them, so they could use it in the rebuilt park. I told them okay and signed the papers in the presence of no less than three lawyers, after they took great pains to explain it all to me!"

Scarlett nodded, "I'd like to see these papers myself."

Jason offered, "I can take you to the town hall myself, once we're done here."

Scarlett nodded her thanks and turned back to Shelly, "There's also a claim here of slave labor? That you're being exploited for the benefit of the town's beautification and tourist trade?"

Shelly nearly exploded at that, "_EXPLOITED?!_ If anyone's being exploited it's the townsfolk! They all know I can't stand to see plants in poor health so many of the gardeners go out of their way to take extra good care of their plants and the public ones or else I'll do it and I won't be nice about it! Besides that, I still take care of the park, because I want to! I mean, it's where I grew up, why wouldn't I want to take care of it?"

She shook her head again, "As for the rest, yes I let people buy my flowers, but I barter. I've got no use for money, so people offer me things I can use for fertilizer or they bring me little pretties, like flower clippings and the like. Plus, I'm the biggest plant nymph most people will ever see, so of course the tourists want to see me!"

Jason cut in there, "We've got a strict system though. They're not allowed to come up to her actual home, so they can only see her when she comes to the park. We pay Miss Shelly in goods, fertilizer and the like."

Shelly gestured sharply to the side, "Besides, if I was being exploited, why in Pan's name would Bellton go through the trouble of doing a fundraiser to pay for the transport and care of my sister?"

Blinking in surprise, Scarlett looked where she indicated. Sure enough, there was a second plant nymph, though much smaller, about the size of a young child, and her hair blooms weren't open yet. She had her little face turned up to the sun, her pale green skin soaking in the warmth and light. Her fingers were dug into the dirt and it looked like her legs were stuck into a mound of dark, rich earth.

As she looked at the child, Jason explained, "See, there was some weirdo rich guy that kicked the bucket a few months back in the next state over and when his kids went through his things, they found poor little Maple there in a greenhouse, along with a few other magical creatures. They didn't want her and hunted around for someone to take her and the others off their hands. That's how the town mayor found out about her and did the fundraiser to buy Maple's transport here, as well as for supplies for her care on the way here."

Scarlett frowned, "Are there documents stating that?"

Jason nodded again, "At the town hall, ma'am."

She told him, "I'd like to see those too."

Turning back to Shelly, she said, "Well, everything looks in order here. I'm sorry to disturb you for this. Are there any concerns you'd like addressed?"

The nymph smiled, "Yes, actually. You see, there's this nasty group of so-called defenders of nature that keep trying to convince me to move out into some wild area, far away from my home here. They also harass the good citizens of Bellton for no actual reason besides the ones they've convinced themselves of. I'd like to take out a restraining order on that group, please."

Scarlett returned the smile, "We can certainly take care of that for you, Miss Shelly. Would you like to take care of that here or down in the town?"

"Here, please. Maple isn't strong enough to leave this area yet and I don't want to leave her alone," the nymph replied.

She nodded, "Of course. I'll see you first thing tomorrow with the papers. Thank you for your time."

Leaving the clearing with Jason, Scarlett glanced at the treeline to see Snake Eyes discreetly following them. He gave her the 'all clear' signal and slipped away, likely to scout ahead and ensure the way was clear.

She hid a sigh and rolled a shoulder to get a sudden sore spot out of it. If only all missions were this easy...


	22. Agony

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This was written at the request of Shiary. I know it's not exactly what was asked for, but I hope it suffices.

Part 1 of 2

(-)

Agony, complete and total agony. Everything was sheer pain as Duke regained consciousness. Even the very flow of his own blood in his veins felt painful.

As he laid face down on the cold floor, a nervous voice asked, "Duke? That's you right? It's you?"

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he shifted his head as much as he could to look upwards. Kamakura was standing over him, looking scared but determined. He had a thick book in his heavily gloved hands and Jinx was just behind him with a pair of shackles that seemed to be shimmering, also holding them with heavy gloves on.

The man wondered why she had the thrice-blessed shackles out and why Kamakura had a book of the sacred texts. Then the memories slowly trickled back into his brain and he groaned. Licking his painfully dry lips, and tasting blood in the process from his split lower lip, Duke croaked out, "Yeah, it's me."

Remembering procedure, he stayed on the floor and waited. It wasn't long before there was a heavy weight in the middle of his back as strong hands grabbed his wrists to cuff them tightly behind his back. Duke hissed in pain a couple of times, but that was more from the horrific soreness he was experiencing than anything Snake Eyes was doing. There were a couple of light pats on his upper back, likely where some holy seals were being placed.

Once Duke was properly sealed and bound, Snake Eyes got off his back and pulled him up, having to practically support him as Duke's legs nearly refused to support his weight. Looking at Kamakura, Duke tried to ask about the rest of the team but his dry throat betrayed him.

Thankfully, the young vampire seemed to get what he was asking about and told him, "Everyone else is okay. Scarlett and Spirit are hunting Firefly right now, and Hi-Tech is in Medical."

Duke nodded and let Snake Eyes lead him away, to be put in a containment cell until he could be examined to ensure there was no trace of demonic possession left. But even after he was cleared from that, he'd have to be taken off duty until he was cleared to work again.

But most of all, Duke was wondering how the traitor Firefly had even gotten the box holding the demon's soul into their base. There were so many procedures and protections in place, it unfortunately pointed to Firefly having an accomplice in their team.

Duke wasn't sure which was more upsetting: the idea that there were other snakes in their team or the possibility that there were more demonic soul boxes in the base.


	23. Return

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

Note: This was written at the request of Shiary. I know it's not exactly what was asked for, but I hope it suffices.

Part 2 of 2

(-)

Duke sat patiently in the chair as the final cleansing and holy wards were removed.

Almost a week out of duty, to help ensure all traces of that demon's soul were actually gone, and now he could finally return to work.

Well, technically he was officially returning to work tomorrow. Scarlett and Snake Eyes were going to come and pick him up and inform him on what had happened while he'd been out of action, all to help keep him from getting overwhelmed.

From what he did know though, it was bad.

They'd found three other soul boxes hidden in the base and so far, Hi-Tech had confirmed that the Vault had been broken into, with at least ten items missing. All of them ranged from mid to high level, which was bad.

The only bright side seemed to be that the traitor Firefly had grabbed the objects at random, as none of the missing ones were true threats on their own. But that bothered Duke.

If unleashing those soul boxes had been purely to create an opportunity to get into the Vault, then Firefly must have been after something specific, but what? All the items he'd taken would need to be combined with something else to have any real power behind it, but they were still assessing the damage. Those items could have easily been to cover up whatever his real target was.

There was also the fact that they still hadn't found whoever his accomplice was, if there even was one. From what Duke had been told, time-delayed viruses had been found in the computer system, cleverly hidden away and all set to create small black-outs in the system, which would have been more than enough to smuggle in something.

He was broken from his thoughts by Scarlett saying his name. Looking up, he saw her waiting patiently at the door to his securing cell, Snake Eyes just behind her.

Giving them a small smile, he rose from his chair.

It was time to get back to work.


	24. Protection

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Spirit was quiet as he considered the wards on the wall before him.

They were a typical assortment for a wealthy home, a mix of wards for good luck, protection, and prosperity.

Behind him, he could hear the owner of the house loudly complaining to Scarlett about their 'intrusion' and how they had no right to be here and so on and so on.

Seeing something odd with the third ward for prosperity, he followed it with his finger and smiled to himself. Pressing on the odd part with a quick burst of his own power, the wall neatly swung open to reveal a hidden room.

He turned to look at Scarlett, taking satisfaction in how pale the owner went. Motioning to the newly revealed room with one hand, he asked Scarlett, "Shall we?"

She gave him an affirmative nod, "Let's."

Entering the room, they found the reported contraband they'd been looking for. Stacks of unregistered charms and boxes full of untagged magical item, it looked like they'd found the center point for this small time smuggling ring.

Ignoring the owner's fresh protests of innocence, Spirit got to work documenting their find. This would take a couple days to clear out and more to fully document for evidence, but it would all be worth it in the end.


	25. Boxes

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Sigma 6, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Hi-Tech sighed as he sat back, rubbing his left forearm over his forehead to clear off some sweat.

He cast his gaze over the several towers of boxes and sighed again, putting his hands against his lower back as he stretched to ease out a crick in his back.

This had to be one of his more boring tasks, at least through the repetition of it all. What he had to do was go through each box carefully and catalog its contents so that the stuff could be either destroyed, put in the Vault, or a number of other things.

He also had to make sure none of the boxes had been tampered with or worse, had a soul box hidden inside.

So far though, it was all clear and Hi-Tech hoped it would stay that way.

Popping his neck, he reached for the clipboard again to get back to work. Wishing and grumbling wouldn't complete this task, though help would have been greatly appreciated.

Growling about stupid budget cuts made by uninvolved committees, Hi-Tech grabbed the next box with his free hand to pull it over to himself to start working again.

At least his lunch break was only five minutes away.


	26. Hope

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Jinx cursed as she climbed out of the air duct, wincing at the amount of dust that covered her.

Looking at Long Range, she shook her head, "Nothing in there. I hope that means we got them all."

The sniper frowned, looking up at the ceiling, "Are you sure you went through all of them Jinx?"

She growled, "Yes, I'm sure! I crawled through every freaking air duct on this side of the base! I checked in at every single vent I could find and I can verify that there isn't a single soul box in any of them!"

Long Range pointed upwards, "I never saw you check in at that one."

Blinking, Jinx looked up as well at the vent he'd indicated. Frowning, she mentally rechecked the duct layout for the area they were in and told him, "I don't know that one..."

Looking at each other, they made a quick decision. Long Range cupped his hands in front of himself to give her a boosting step, which Jinx quickly used to stand on his shoulders. Reaching up, she carefully ran her fingers over the grating and found the hidden screws.

It was quick work to undo them with one of her thinner throwing blades and soon she had the vent cover off. Checking carefully for traps, Jinx grabbed the sides of the vent and pulled herself up.

Almost as soon as she did, one of those horrible dark gray boxes was before her eyes, making the female vampire blanch. She quickly looked at the walls of this little hiding place and swore. Lowering herself carefully, she stood on Long Range's shoulders for just a second longer before quickly climbing off him, "We've got one! Firefly must have either built an additional section of air duct himself or he sealed a part off and never thought to add it to the base plans."

Long Range swore himself, "We'll need to inform the team. Are you comfortable with removing one of those boxes?"

Handling a soul box was tricky, but Jinx still nodded, "I'll be fine. It'll be hard to get it down but I should be able to manage it."

He nodded to her, raising his gauntlet to inform the team. As he did that, Jinx cast her gaze upwards again and shuddered.

Soul boxes were normally heavily inscribed on all surfaces so as to help keep the demon's soul imprisoned. But the boxes that Firefly had hidden throughout the base had had many of their inscriptions removed, leaving them as dangerous traps for anyone that touched one accidentally.

The sooner they got that thing re-inscribed and out of the base, the better.


	27. Preparation

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Though there were standard procedures they followed, oftentimes the various missions the team got required a specific kind of preparation to properly arm themselves so as to complete those missions. This could be as complicated from a several layer defensive spell boundary to something as simple as carrying a specific, magically charged stone in their sigma suit for protection.

But the main point of all this was that they needed information to properly prepare. A single unknown thing could throw the entire mission off, which could have disastrous consequences. So with every new mission they got, every bit of information gleamed from it was carefully entered into their computer systems and cataloged as needed, ready to pull up at a later date if it was so needed.

It was a secondary objective of theirs, but it had helped the team countless times in the past and likely would continue to do so in the future. Not just for them, but for others too, once they were cleared to release some of that information to other sources.

In short, it was another way the Sigma 6 team tried to help make the world run smoother for all involved.


	28. Beautiful

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Scott hid a sigh and tried to at least pretend to be interested in the lesson as his teacher droned on and on about the subject of magical energy and its various uses. The redhead teen already knew it from his interactions with the Sigma 6 team though, so this was basically a review for him and a boring one at that.

He snuck a glance out the window from the corner of his eye, letting out a tiny sigh as he took in the surprisingly picturesque scene. This particular classroom was on the side of the school that bordered the local forest and it was just a beautiful day outside.

Still listening just enough to keep from getting in trouble, Scott bit back a groan as his teacher again stated an incorrect fact about shape shifters and had to restrain himself from correcting the man. If he did, then he'd have to explain his sources, which Scott couldn't do without getting into about eight kinds of legal trouble so that would make it look like he'd only corrected the teacher just to disrupt the class and honestly, Scott didn't feel like being sent to the principal's office again.

Writing down some notes in his notebook to keep up the appearance of paying attention, Scott let himself daydream a little about working on Spudd later today and hopefully finally being allowed back onto the base this weekend.

After the fiasco with Firefly's betrayal, the base had been on lockdown until they'd re-verified its security again, which was still ongoing. Forcing himself to face the fact that he'd be unlikely to get back in until probably next month, Scott instead decided to visit his father this weekend.

Hawk Abernathy was doing better, at least enough that he could be allowed visitors again. Hearing his teacher raise his voice, Scott made himself pay attention again, silently panicking that he'd been called on to answer a question.

Thankfully it was another student that had to answer, but Scott forced himself to actually pay attention for the rest of the class anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.


	29. Lies

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Hi-Tech grumbled to himself as he denied yet another request for the Pot of Truth from the Vault.

Pushing back from the computer, he stretched in his chair, feeling several pops in his spine as he did so. Yawning, he got up to refresh his coffee, thinking on that item as he did so.

Technically, the Pot of Truth wasn't it real name. It was just the title it'd been given until they could find out what it was really called and it had just stuck afterwards. Made of stone, it was in the shape of a water pot and had some simplistic carvings on it's middle that circled the entire pot.

As for the name, well, if someone were to hold the pot, they couldn't tell any lies until they set the pot back down. Oddly, the pot seemed to 'cling' to the hands of whoever held it for at least thirty minutes, at least, if they held it in their bare hands. Any kind of covering between the pot and their hands seemed to negate the whatever made it cling but it still made them tell the truth.

As such, it was a frequently requested item, either for interrogations (which typically got approval, within reason), or for frivolous uses (which was unfortunately more common and were generally denied right off the bat). While Hi-Tech understood needing to get ensure they got accurate information out of a suspect, he didn't feel use of the pot was justified in trying to find out if someone happened to, say, cheat at the base's weekly poker game.

Letting out a deep breath, Hi-Tech returned to his desk with his refreshed coffee and got back to work on the requests list, approving or denying as needed. It was one of the more boring tasks he was in charge of, but it had to be done.


	30. Underneath

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Tunnel Rat was not happy, but then, when was he?

Stuck in his dog form, he snarled at Hi-Tech from his refuge underneath a table. The blond winced but tried to speak with him, "Tunnel Rat, I said I was sorry! But really, how was I supposed to know those were shifter curses?!"

The red-furred dog snapped its jaws at him, but didn't lunge forward, which he took to be a good sign. Hi-Tech bit his lower lip, trying to think of something to salvage the situation, "Well, I think they're only supposed to last a day...maybe..."

The dog snarled at him again, louder this time and exposing more teeth than he had before. Hi-Tech gave in and stepped back, giving his teammate some space.

It had been an honest accident. While reorganizing the Vault, Hi-Tech had found a box of some weird curse charms he didn't recognize and had been walking though the base trying to find Scarlett to get her opinion of them when Tunnel Rat had walked by him in the hallway. It wouldn't have meant much, but Hi-Tech had somehow tripped over his own two feet and accidentally stuck one of the charms on Tunnel Rat, which had then forced the shape shifter into his dog form.

In hindsight, it would have been a _much _ better idea to have just called her and waited in his lab. Hi-Tech blamed lack of sleep for why he hadn't done just that. But that was in the past and now he had to figure out how to handle this situation.

Maybe he should find Spirit? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea...


	31. Hide

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Snake Eyes loved working in warehouses. Sure, with the more vigilant enemies, it made work a little tricky, but still, warehouses offered so many places to hide that it often made his job easier rather than harder.

Finding a secure spot among the rafters of this particular warehouse, he got his mini-camera out and settled in to wait after training it on the group directly below him.

This was a stake out to find if their anonymous tip of rare ingredients for magical purposes being illegally traded was true or not. Even if it wasn't, backroom deals of any kind of magical ingredient was illegal, so either way he'd hopefully get some good info to use against the men he was spying on.

Seeing an interesting development, he zoomed in with his camera and began to take pictures.

Sure, this was a boringly easy mission compared to what he normally did, but sometimes those were necessary. Besides, there was always the chance that any information he recovered here could help bring down one of the larger smuggling rings of magical ingredients.


	32. Diary

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Kamakura stared at the book on the table, fully convinced it was a trap of some sort. There was just no way a book like that would be left out otherwise, not unless it was a real and true accident.

The book in question was a small and dull green one, fastened shut with some string with a pen tucked under the string on one side. The really attention grabbing part was the writing on the small space on the front, which read 'Property of Kimi, No Reading!'.

He gulped and reminded himself it had to be a trap, forcing his hands to stay at his sides even though he could already feel the temptation growing in the back of his mind. Having a younger sister, he knew what a diary looked like and there was little doubt in his mind that that was what the book was.

But why would Jinx leave that out in the open like this? It had to be a trap! A test of some sort, at the least! But a test of what? To see how far he'd go to get information? If he respected her privacy?

Which of course, he knew he had boundaries and that this would be an invasion of her privacy but the temptation was so great...

So caught up was he in that mental dilemma, that he didn't notice Jinx herself as she walked by and smoothly took the book off the table, hiding it in her uniform easily. The faint blush on her face could have been from anything, really.


	33. Unforeseen

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Duke shook his head as he took in the sight of the crater in what had once been a nice little park.

He glanced over at Scarlett, "Failed summoning?"

She nodded, crouching down to look at the remains of a symbol scratched into the dirt, "Either that or a magical trap gone wrong. See, this is the symbol for holding, which can be used for either."

She traced the symbol a few inches above it in the air with her finger, shaking her head as she did so, "It's not complete either. They forgot a line here and the ending mark there. It's a basic one as well, so if they messed up one this easy, I bet they messed up on the other symbols too."

Duke frowned, "Expelled apprentice you think?"

She shook her head again, "Nah, they're drilled too hard in the basics by the time they reach apprenticeship. This is either someone who took a few classes and then quit or they got their hands on a spell book and wanted to try it out without training."

He looked around at the park, locating their other teammates and their areas of search, "Think we'll find anything else?"

Scarlett stood up, clapping her hands together to dust them off, "I doubt it. If they didn't have enough training to avoid these mistakes, I bet they stood in the circle or right next to it. Anyone who's properly trained wouldn't have made these basic errors. The results of these mistakes aren't exactly unforeseen if you have a teacher or at least a basic understanding of magical symbols."

Duke nodded distractedly, trying to figure out what to do now, "Could you trace the magic?"

Scarlett frowned but seemed to consider it, "I can try, but there's a lot of interference here. It'll take a few hours at best and I can't guarantee perfect results."

"Anything you can get will help, even if it's just flicker," he told her, even if it was redundant to remind her of that.

She gave him a half smile and moved to go back to the ROCC, "Just let me get some of my gear and I'll do what I can."

Duke gave her another nod and moved to give the area another search. As he'd said, anything they could find would help and that covered physical as well as magical.


	34. Conditional

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot and OC are mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Heavy Duty couldn't help but tilt his head at the outright weird list of 'requirements' for the continued cooperation of something called Chewy. It was hung next to the rules list (which of course had some humorous additions to it already) and each 'requirement' seemed conditional to the overall idea that they (meaning the team) had to keep this Chewy happy.

He read some of them to himself, frowning at the list, "Rule five, Chewy must have his choice of towels? Rule eight, all candy must go to the great Chewy for first pick? Rule twelve, Chewy is ruler of all that falls in the grates?"

If this was some kind of prank, then it was failing for trying too hard. Shaking his head, Heavy left it up for Duke to deal with.

Besides, knowing their luck, this was probably the result of one their few new greenshirts getting full of themselves.


	35. Gone

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Snake Eyes had a nice string of mental swears going on in his head as he was forced to wait the paralysis out.

Normally he had some counters to paralysis charms in addition to his slight resistance to them, but the one Storm Shadow had hit him with had been doubled. Speaking of the other ninja, he was long gone, along with his spoils from this raid.

More swears were added to that mental string, especially as this now meant that Cobra had a powerful relic called the Midas Ring in its possession. Whoever wore it had the Midas Touch, or in other words, turned whatever they touched into pure gold. The effect was only active when the ring was being worn and it didn't affect the wearer themselves, only the things they touched.

What this meant was that now Cobra Commander had a new source of revenue for his organization, something they'd been trying to keep him from getting.

The only comfort Snake Eyes really had at the moment was that there was no one around to see his failure.

Of course that comfort was quickly broken with the arrival of Jinx and Kamakura, which added yet more swears to the now considerably lengthy chain he had going in his mind.


	36. Clear Skies

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Baroness furtively gazed out the tinted window, thinking wistfully of the warmth of the sun outside.

After nearly two solid weeks of rain, they finally had clear skies today and yet she was stuck inside in a mind-numbing meeting that was going nowhere. All this wasted time, when she could have gotten some real work done instead of this stupid undercover mission.

Taking cues from the surrounding conversation, she pulled her attention back to the others in time to answer a question directed at herself with a general non-answer that seemed to please everyone.

She hid a sigh and readjusted her position in her chair. Regular chairs just didn't work for her, but this company had yet to pay for chairs that better fit her needs. Moving her tail specifically to call attention to it, and the fact that she was not fully human, seemed to finally jump start the conversation to better grounds.

Baroness allowed a small smile to grace her features as the others in the meeting almost grudgingly began to talk of hiring other Creatures and the needed furniture to accommodate them. They'd originally hired her to present a better image to the world at large, to show how the company was moving with the times but other changes had been slow in the coming.

No matter. Another week perhaps and she'd have gotten enough information on this company for Cobra to secretly buy it out and gut it into a front for some of their other...business ventures.

Afterwords, she could treat herself to a vacation. Yes, a vacation...somewhere sunny, certainly...yes...


	37. Heartache

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine and I make no money from this.

(-)

Jinx frowned to herself, glaring down at her hands as she sat on her bed in thought.

She wasn't blind or deaf, she'd seen the way Kamakura had started looking at her and had heard the whispers among the rest of the team. He was cute, she'd give him that, but it was more like a puppy kind of cute, not boyfriend cute.

In fact, did she even really want a relationship right now? Even if age didn't matter to vampires, he was still younger than her and that difference would bother her even if no one else minded. Then there were the differences in their skills. She was so far advanced than he was, could she deal with the headaches that would result from him trying to catch up with her?

But to make it blunt to herself, did she really need this headache, this _heartache_, right now?

Shaking her head, Jinx told herself firmly that she'd turn Kamakura down, gently, but definitely make it clear to him she wasn't interested.

So why was it, when he asked her timidly to a lunch date not even a day later, that she found herself agreeing instead?


	38. Wired

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

Note: This is a sequel to Journey from the second prompt table.

(-)

Hi-Tech hummed to himself as he double-checked everything, glancing at Scarlett when he was done, "Ready?"

She nodded, "Ready, but is this really necessary?"

He smiled at her, "Of course! Part of the team's mission is research right? So this is just data collecting!"

Scarlett hid a sigh, "I know that but what I meant was do we have to do this with a machine you've modified? Aren't there any magic testing machines we could use?"

Hi-Tech looked at the machine he was indeed wired to, or rather, that his gloved right hand was. She was right. He'd modified a small magic testing machine for this purpose and it showed as the once sleek box was now essentially bursting at the seams with extra wires and bits. The blond scratched at his neck, "Well yeah but none that are really accurate for people like me. Most of these machines can only accurately test for magical power in people who are at least one-third of an elemental or similar, uh, status. I'm actually just one-fourth thunder elemental so when someone like me gets tested on the regular machines, there's a high chance of false results."

He bent over the machine and yet again double-checked some wires, "But if this works, then we could be on the way to making more accurate machines overall as well as aiding the magical community in various ways and -"

Scarlett cut him off, "Alright, alright, I get it. You just want me to keep time and record the results, right?"

Hi-Tech straightened up and beamed at her, "Right! Now, are you ready?"

She smiled at him, "When you are."

He brought up his right hand, which had the raiju hide glove on and flexed his fingers as he said, "Beginning in three, two, one..."


	39. Insanity

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of GI Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. Only the plot is mine.

_'talk'_ = thoughts

(-)

Zartan pasted a suitably blank look on his face as he did his job, not too bored but seemingly focused on a task that required more concentration than normal, all while fighting down the slight tremor in his hands and the _ache_ that was beginning to form in his head.

He'd gone too long without a break and it was starting to show. Screw the money, after this job he was taking off to one of his numerous hide-outs and staying away from the public in general for the next two weeks.

_'My name is James O'Leon, I'm divorced with two kids, who are both doing well in school though my fourteen year old daughter is starting to act out and my twelve year old son wants to quit his baseball team, though I don't know why. My ex-wife won't talk to me, though I know she calls the kids or at least calls my daughter. My job is alright but I wouldn't mind a different office because Cory keeps coming in here to 'borrow' things but only ends up trying to get me to gossip with him for a few hours like a housewife and we all know he's just wasting time on the clock until he can get overtime and -'_

With a force of iron will, Zartan forced that mental voice down, using the piece of his own mind that he'd brought along to keep himself stable. Yeah, make that three weeks with no human contact. It was nauseating to feel himself doing a backwards slide into insanity and the last thing he wanted was to end up like so many other human-type shape-shifters who'd gone too long without a break: locked in a padded cell while shrieking that he was eight different people at once.

Typing in yet another bit of dull information into the report 'James' was working on for this company, Zartan gritted his teeth and restrained himself from throwing the nearby stapler at the aforementioned 'Cory' as the little slime-ball crept into the office to 'borrow some staples and by the way, did he know that Chelsea had a new boyfriend and -'.

In place of the voice of 'James', a mental timer for the end of the day started. Never before had there been a time when Zartan so thoroughly regretted accepting a job.


End file.
